Vehicles, for example marine vehicles, are typically built with a perimeter barrier. The purpose of the barrier is to keep people and loose objects from falling off the deck of the marine vehicle and keep the occupants of the vehicle safe. Pontoon boats, for example, are built with a fence or rail that goes around the deck of the boat. Such fences have traditionally been constructed of metal, such as aluminum tubing, clad with thin metal facades, e.g. aluminum. The construction of such a fence is expensive and time consuming. The combination of the different model of boats, the selected layout of furniture and other accessories on the deck and the desired location of entry points, e.g. gates, means that the fence often has to be custom built. The tubes must be cut to length, bent, and welded together and finished for a desirable appearance. The facade must also be installed and secured.
The pontoon boats have evolved from essentially a flat deck with bench seats or lawn chairs to upholstered seats and/or couches with plastic bases. The couches and/or seats are often placed around the exterior of the deck to preserve as much open deck space as possible for use such as entertaining, fishing, moving about, etc. Through such placement, the back of the seats provide a barrier around much of the boat.
More recently, some boat manufacturers have either replaced the aluminum fence with a decorative fiberglass fence or integrally formed fiberglass seats with a decorative back that serves as the barrier. Although the fiberglass panels provide a much more luxury look and are desirable, they are more expensive and require more time to manufacture than the aluminum tube fence that they replace. Fiberglass also requires extensive work to repair, such as if a dock cracks the fiberglass panel.
As such, there is a need for a more cost effective alternate seat enclosure to a fence.
It will be understood by those skilled in the art that one or more aspects of this invention can meet certain objectives, while one or more other aspects can lead to certain other objectives. Other objects, features, benefits and advantages of the present invention will be apparent in this summary and descriptions of the disclosed embodiment, and will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art. Such objects, features, benefits and advantages will be apparent from the above as taken in conjunction with the accompanying figures and all reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom.